Favorite video game console from any era?

[shadow0460]

Post a favorite console or two and one or two things you like about it. Post something you hated if you want (but keep the forum rules please).

Mine: The Atari 7800. It could decimate the NES in sprite rendering and has to date the highest percentage of backwards compatible games (we've got it down to three that won't work). Backwards compatibility requires no software update, just three physical mods or a High Score cart. The thing I hate most is how fragile the console itself is.
Second, Pioneer LaserActive for similar reasons. It plays games from several competing systems. Dislikes are its expense and the ultra sharp solder points inside which make modding a painful task
I own both, the 7800 has a development ROM in it. I've used it to study programming both 2600 and 7800 games from my extensive collection and isolate different versions of a few of them. The LaserActive is compatible with all Genesis games save one 32X CD title. It's also the biggest released home console. The RDI Halcyon was biggest, but the LaserActive is easily three times the size of a PS5, especially when the LaserActive is fitted with a 32X.

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

GameCube for me, though the entire sixth generation was special. Was on the cusp of developers rapidly learning how to do proper 3D and development costs were just cheap enough that you still got a lot of innovation.

 

[m355y]

The Dreamcast is the console that really sucked me in, that era just before the PS2 where you could choose between pixilated PlayStation graphics, N64 shrouded in fog and flat textures or arcade perfect (well, it seemed at the time) Sega classics in beautiful bright colours in full 128bit glory? I'll never forget that first level of Sonic Adventure with the killer whale, or (more pertinently for this forum) the first time I played F1 World Grand Prix 2, which I still think is in my top five F1 games of all time. I loved the Dreamcast way beyond the point where Sega ditched it. I still have one- it's basically all turned yellow by now but touch wood it still works and I could still go home tonight and load up WGP2 or Soul Calibur if I wanted to. That makes me happy - I probably won't, but just to know I could.

 

[PletdeKoe]

I’m a playstation guy. Although I owned an Atari, I really started playing video games with the original Playstation. For me the first (almost everything was a first for me) and fourth (online play and store) the best. But I can’t rule out the second (library) and even third (because of HD).

 

[MIE1992]

Of the ones I've owned, probably the PS2. Legendary library.

 

[Veinz]

The Xbox 360 was peak console gaming for me, except for the red ring of death. Halo and Forza Motorsport were awesome back then.

 

[Chikane_GTR]

PS4 EASY.

It has all my favorite games from ps4 games to remasters of ps2 or ps3 games.

 

[R55NA]

Xbox 360 was the golden era, and can never be replicated. Perfect time for me personally, due to my age, commitments, and friends, at the time.

So many good memories playing PGR3, Forza Motorsport 2/4, COD:Modern Warfare, World at War, and TDU, online.

Games weren't as buggy, we didnt have as many expectations for quality/performance, MTX's werent so prevalent, people spoke on mic's more often, all your friends were gaming.

Forza Motorsport 2023 shipping with less cars and less tracks than FM4. Embarassing, thats what we call 12 years of progress.

 

[m355y]

Much as I champion the Dreamcast, from a racing game point of view surely the answer can only be either the PS2 or the Xbox360. Can’t split them. PS2 just has so much - incredible library spanning so many years. Xbox360 the start of HD gaming, being able to install games on your hard drive, exclusives like PGR, THQ MotoGP, Forza, PGR, Race Pro, great arcade racers like Blur….I think 360 edges it.

 

[AudiMan2011]

Playstation 2 gave us some of the greatest games of all time; GT4, GTA San Andreas, Burnout, Need for Speed Most Wanted '05 and Carbon etc.

Consoles since then haven't come close.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

Super Nintendo - Fun games, colourful graphics, melodious sound, fast load times, responsive controls setting the standard for controller layout. Game cartridges could increase capabilities of console too! Last time Nintendo was the flagship main gaming platform.

It even helped PlayStation be its own thing and creation of Gran Turismo which has a lot of resemblance to Super Mario Kart given basis of game was a clone of it.

Looks like the next-generation Nintendo in 2024 will be the first worthy successor that will be Super enough as it should bring load times down, bring back responsive controls and become a flagship experience again with a ton of third party support.

 

[JHop]

Dreamcast hands down.
Fluid and sharp graphics looked ahead of their time. Most of the games ran at 60fps which was a breath of fresh air compared to previous gen games.
It was also the first? console in the PAL region where we could choose between 50 or 60hz in many games.
Shenmue was an absolutely mind blowing experience back then.

Second comes NeoGeo AES (& MVS).
Of course no one had the console back during its run.
So many great games that still hold up today.
Neo Turf Masters and windjammers are great fun with a friend.

Third place NES.
Smb3, enough said.

 

[wheelhp]

PSone mini was my first. The console was compact and neat. But I was rather envious of people who had the original biggetr console, it just looked cooler to me!

Ps2 however had so many games, it's hard to beat that variety. Literally thousands... someday I'll own a lot more thanks to acquiring a good PC with a ryzen 5 and emulation software that upscales to the moon

 

[SestoScudo]

1- Super Nintendo
2- PS1
3-Nintendo 64
4- PS2
5- Xbox 360
6- PS3
7- PS5
8- PS4
9- Xbox One

These are the consoles I own. I did play Sega and the Original Xbox at friends houses since I did not own them so I cant put them in my list.

 

[HarVee]

Oof, kind of hard one. I have and have had a lot of consoles, but of all of them I'd say the PS3 has the most special place in my heart. Those days of GTA4 and GT5 were golden years for me.

 

[Elvio_Lento]

All the consoles I've had, in order from most to least loved, mostly based on the games I loved from each one.

1. PS2: GT3, GT4, NFS Underground, GTA San Andreas, The Warriors, DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2 & 3, Final Fantasy X. The PS2 also takes the win for me because it was just the biggest wow factor from one generation to the next.
2. PS1: GT2, Final Fantasy VII, Tony Hawk 2, Spyro 2, NFS High Stakes.
3. GameBoy Color: Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Blue, Pokémon Gold, Pokémon Pinball.
4. PS4: GT7, GT Sport, Stray, Final Fantasy VII Remake. I've still got quite a catalog of PS Plus games to work through as well.
5. PS3: GT6, Sleeping Dogs.
6. Sega Master System: I was a kid and can't remember all of them. There were a lot of fun games (mostly 2D platformers and sports games), but nothing that made a mark on me like the ones mentioned above did.

 

[R55NA]

Probably have the fondest memories from the Xbox 360 era.

Too many games to list, but playing online with friends (and randoms) through that time is a moment that wont ever be replicated. Simpler times, with better games.

 

[MatskiMonk]

In terms of what I've owned, I had Spectrum 128k+2, Commodore 64k, Sega Megadrive, PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5, with sporadic PC gaming thrown in.

If I'm picking two, I'd probably have to go C64 & PS2. It's pretty hard to rank the rest after that, they're all pretty good, and it's really only the shear number of games I loved at the time that bumps the Commodore and the PS2 upwards. Probably the only 'bad' experience was the Speccy which spent more time failing to load things than it did playing things

It's amusing to me that I'm using my PC with 64 Gigabytes of RAM in it, to emulate C64 games, which fitted in 64 Kilobytes, literally 1,000,000× difference. If you'd have told me at the time that by the time I was my Dad's age (at the time) I'd have something 1,000,000× better than my shiny new C64 it would have blown my mind.

 

[Daz555]

Got to be the Vectrex for me. Totally unique console with a wonderful crisp vector display. It's the one console where emulation doesn't get you anywhere close to experiencing the real thing which makes owning one so worthwhile. Thankfully I still have the one I got for Christmas in 1984. Still works perfectly as well. I have a near complete set of boxed games released for it in the UK - all picked up cheap from bargain bins in the mid 80s after the console was discontinued. I'm just missing one game - Space Wars. I never saw it in any shops back in the day and boxed examples come up rarely on Ebay and when it does it goes for daft money usually.

 

[Jump_Ace]

You should attach a poll with every console from Atari 2600 onward.

For me, nothing will beat the PS2. That was the golden age of Gran Turismo and going to LAN events and tourney's in Seattle along with the WRS being in its hayday, those are some of the best video game memories I'll ever have.


Jerome

 

[Alfred1]

Mine would be "Nintendo Switch" because of its versatility. It can be used both as a home console and a portable handheld device.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Too close to call between X360 and PS3 for me. It was the era, with the 360 offering a lot more jump-in type games and the PS3 giving an overall more serious/cerebral experience. The game libraries were truly deep and the approach to a console user interface was still developing and interesting. It was before games as a service started to degrade the quality and motivations of dev teams. But it was also when game visuals became truly impressive (IMO - some PS2/XB era games looked impressive occasionally, but it was usually with some tradeoff, like totally static lighting or objects) with believable lighting and dynamic qualities.

Runner up is the PS2 which probably has the best and deepest catalogue of all.

 

[Sprite]

Atari Jaguar for me as it was our first console. Up to that point gaming was done on an Amiga 500+.

However for actual gaming I’d say PS1.

 

[Viper_Maniac]

For me, it was the Original Xbox. Have so many good memories with that console. I actually was able to snag a Halo Special Edition OG Xbox last year. Bought it for a project I've been wanting to work on for along time now and that is to soft mod it so I can rip all the games I still own (probably 40 or so) so I can put them on the internal HDD (which I plan to upgrade). Have had problems trying to get the display adapter I bought to get it to work with HDMI. I'll figure it out one of these days. Haha.

 

[sesselpupser]

Probably PS2 for me. 4-player Timesplitters, the MGS 2 demo, Gran Turismo 4 and Concept Tokyo-Geneva, GTA VC and SA...

That said, if the Steam Deck counts, I might have to choose that instead because it's the only reason I'm still able to play games as much as I do now that I'm a dad - I can play on the train, during lunch at work, on the sofa at night... I may not have the fond memories of playing some of the formative games of my youth on it (when they were new, I mean, I could play almost any of them on it now if I wanted) but in terms of pure utility, versatility and just being fun to use it has to be the best one yet.

 

[Strittan]

PS2, no contest.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Kind of a tough question for me, but I've narrowed it down to at least 2 out of all the ones I own.

As far as the game library goes, the PS2 certainly has that title for me because some of the best games I've ever played in my entire life were on this system. Games like Need for Speed Underground 2, Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition Remix, Gran Turismo 4, Star Wars Battlefront II (2005), and the list goes on. I still can find games for this console I want to this day because it had the best selection in my opinion. Of all the consoles I've owned, I think this was the one I played the most and even in the present day, I still find myself wanting to go back to it fairly often and more so than any other old console I have. It's really stood the test of time for me and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

Now if we had to talk about features, the Xbox Series X is what takes the title for me. Although I have only had mine for 2 years, I've already found a lot of use for it, more so than I anticipated. For starters, dev mode is easily the most interesting thing about it to me because, with it, I can run emulators I know and like for most of the consoles I already have on a system with enough power to do it and it provides an immersive experience I could never get on PC. Sure they may not be officially supported by Microsoft, but the fact they created dev mode allowing for it to happen is something I cannot ignore, especially since it was the single biggest reason I got my console. Of course, it doesn't stop there, it has backward compatibility with some of the older Xbox consoles, it allows me to make screenshots and videos of whatever game I am playing, I can watch my DVD and Blu-Ray movies on it and I can stream from whatever service I want and I am sure I could name more. This console has proven to be a lot better than I initially expected and while some of these features aren't exactly new, the fact it has them and they work pretty well is something that matters to me and I have to give props for that. 👍

 

[mimiperator]

Hard choice, considering all consoles that came out (handheld and stationary)

If I'd have to choose a stationary, the PS2 all the way, especially the slim model. Something about it's library is just fascinating to me, and the size of the slim model will always amaze me, considering how big the first variation was. Only problem was, the way how my (somehow only) GT4 discs got eaten by my slim ps2. Made me super angry every time that stupid red loading circle appeared

In terms of handheld, my (still first one!) Gameboy Advance SP, being able to play all of my GB / GBC games AND playing all the new (at that time ofc) GBA games on one console, WITH A BACKLIGHT? Hell yeah. That's the good stuff.


If I'd have to choose over modern consoles though, I'd have to go with the Switch and the PS4. Switch because of the versatility, and huge advantage of playing anywhere and the pretty big library. PS4 because it still holds up extremely well in my opinion, and because GT7 is on there


Happy gaming everyone!